1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to mobile devices, and more particularly, to a mobile device having a power control function that controls the supply of power to unnecessary function modules when driving a specific program and/or function module in the mobile device and a method for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, mobile devices such as PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), cellular phones, and notebook computers are readily portable, and hence can be used even when they are moving, while their operation duration depends on the size and capacity of their batteries. On the other hand, since the power consumption of LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays), which are widely used as an input/output interfaces for mobile devices, usually account for 30 to 50% of the total power consumption, there have been attempts made to reduce the power consumption of the mobile device by switching the LCD to a stand-by state or by turning the LCD off when the mobile device is off for a certain period of time.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a convention PDA configuration.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the PDA includes a power supply 10, a flash ROM 20, a microprocessor (CPU) 30, a RAM 40, a screen display device 50, an input device 60, an audio output device 70, and a communication module 80.
The power supply 10 supplies power necessary for driving the mobile device. Usually, the power supply is a rechargeable battery formed of nickel-cadmium or nickel-hydrogen materials.
The flash ROM 20 stores an operating system and application programs for driving the mobile device.
The microprocessor 30 controls the overall operations of the mobile device, and executes the operating system and application programs stored on the flash ROM, to output an executed result to the display device or the audio output device, for example.
The RAM 40 is used for storing data in the mobile device. The mobile device has a convenient portability and a low power characteristic by using the RAM 40 as a storage medium instead of a bulky and heavy storage medium, such as hard disk drive. Since the RAM 40 has a property of erasing all of the data stored thereon if the RAM 40 is not supplied with power, only the RAM 40 is supplied with power even if the mobile device is turned-off, or the data is stored in the flash ROM 20 before the mobile device is turned-off.
The microprocessor 30 enables the screen display device 50 to display results of the application programs. At present, LCDs are mostly used a screen display, e.g., as the screen display 50, and account for substantial amounts of power consumption in the mobile device. Therefore, some conventional mobile devices, e.g., a PDA like that illustrated in FIG. 1, incorporate a function of causing the screen display device 50 to be turned-off by pressing a power saving button (not shown) provided on the input device, such as devices that allow musical files, such as MP3 files, to be reproduced. However, in addition to the screen display device 50, the mobile devices typically continuously power the communication module 80 and the audio output device 70, which consume large amounts of power, regardless of these components actually being in use. In the case of the communication module 80, since the communication module 80 communicates with a base station, at certain intervals to inform the base station of its own location, the power supply 10 continuously consumes power. Also, as for the audio output device 70, since the device 70 is provided with a predetermined amplifier for driving a headphone and a loudspeaker, the power supply 10 continuously consumes power even when the device 70 is not actually in use. Therefore, conventional mobile devices have a problem of the functional modules, which are not being operated by a user, causing power of a battery/power supply, incorporated in the mobile device, to be continuously consumed, thereby reducing the battery/power supply life of the mobile device.